Pro vs. home?

15 August 2018

Our knee-jerk reaction to pro vs. home is that the former is better than the latter. After all, the pros make their living using equipment and we amateurs don’t. Ergo, a pro drill must be better than a Black and Decker, a chef’s knife superior to a Popiel offering.

Of course, not all pro gear is better than home gear and for a good reason. They are often intended for different tasks. Take professional loudspeakers and subs vs. home versions: neither would work well in the other’s application.

Pro speakers intended for concerts and public events focus on loud and efficient at the expense of frequency extremes and performance qualities precious to an audiophile. Home speakers are the opposite. A home subwoofer, for example, will try and plumb subterranean depths while a pro version is intentionally rolled off at 40Hz to 50Hz. There’s no need to go lower in a crowded live setting and doing so requires a ton of amplifier power.